The Games of courage

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With one or two exceptions, their achievements do not excite frenzied public acclamation. Their competitions do not seize a nation's attention. Their success is no ticket to riches. In a profound sense, however, participation in the Paralympics is a manifestation of the noblest aspirations of elite sport because it represents the victory of the human spirit over the lottery of life's cruel blows.

Before a sell-out opening ceremony in Athens early Saturday Sydney time, 4000 disabled athletes showed the world that it is up to the individual whether adversity is allowed to be a barrier to participation or an impediment to the pursuit of excellence. Over the next 11 days, the 12th Paralympic Games - the other 'lympics - will be a parade of the rawest courage, of pride, of perseverance, of tenacity and of fun. No one suggests these qualities do not also characterise the world's biggest expo of sporting excellence. The triumphs and tribulations of Athens 2004 are fresh in the memory. But Paralympic competition demonstrates broader lessons for us all. Rather than embodying national aspiration, its mosaic of participants are united not so much by their blazers as by their disabilities and their individual histories of triumph.

Foremost, however, the Games are about enjoying athletic prowess and endeavour, just as it is with their bigger sibling. Here, too, success is measured by the ubiquitous medal tally. In Sydney four years ago Australia finished on top with 149 medals, including 63 gold - a Paralympic record and one of this nation's great sporting achievements. Australian glory in Athens will be thinner. The team of 143 is half the size of Sydney's and half the team members are making their debut. Almost half will farewell Paralympic competition in Athens. And the rest of the world is catching up to Australia, one of the 23 foundation nations at the first Games in Rome in 1960. In Athens, 145 nations are competing. Wheelchair racer Louise Sauvage is the best-known Australian competitor. In her last Paralympics, she will pursue a record 10th gold medal but has lately been eclipsed by Newcastle's Eliza Stankovic who, as a 16-year-old, lost her legs to meningococcal disease seven years ago. Do not be surprised, however, if Sauvage reclaims her crown. Beaten into third in a demonstration race during the Athens Olympics, she went to Germany and set two world records.

The ritual for these Games began a week ago with the lighting of the flame at the Temple of Hephaestus, at the foot of the Acropolis. As mythology's son of Zeus, Hephaestus is a fitting patron. He was crippled when his mother, Hera, threw him from Mount Olympus. More tellingly, however, he was the god of fire, an element of abundance in the souls of these Games' participants.

A sound start to a new Sydney

Sydney's new metropolitan strategy - integrating all services and regions - is already a decade overdue. The just-released discussion paper on the issue provides a commendably simple framework for giving the people of Sydney a say in shaping their city. The strategy breaks up a vast amount of work into digestible pieces. What flows from these discussions must be ambitious if Sydney is to be the world centre it aspires to be.

New land releases will be confined to two corridors, in the north-west to Rouse Hill and in the south-west to Bringelly. Their execution will require a miraculous improvement from the feeble standards of other land releases in recent decades. And the Government must resist pressure for additional, sporadic releases. However, about 70 per cent of residential growth will be in existing areas ripe for renewal, from the massive Parramatta Road corridor to a myriad of smaller ones. It is the right focus and the right weighting. Such consolidation will need early successes in transforming places thought beyond repair if it is to win public support and remove the pressure on other suburbs where medium-density development is politically a lost cause. Urban consolidation is vital, but its social benefits can be sold only by example, and even then only to some.

Sydney must better concentrate work, services and retail activities if it is to stem the debilitating proliferation of daily trips. And there must be a new approach to such hubs of activity; the growth of the CBD and Parramatta must continue to outpace other centres. If centres are too uniform and too dispersed, it will actually encourage sprawl. At a local level, a greater concentration of development around existing hubs must mean a renewed private and public commitment to rebuilding local high streets. Better public transport between home and work is also vital. The repair of existing rail and bus networks is welcome but can't substitute for new connections to suburbs old and new.

The discussion paper recognises that the Hunter, Illawarra and Central Coast also urgently need their own plans, and that they must be part of a larger picture. To attempt them all at once, however, would distract from fixing Sydney.

A revitalised approach to new suburbs requires courage not seen in Sydney in a lifetime. Yet the public demands it and the government must provide the financial leadership to deliver it. Timidly, the discussion paper merely hints at innovative financing options but goes no further.

Public consultation is welcome in developing a strategy for Sydney; indeed, the louder the debate the better. The stakes are high. We are still not sure the Government knows just how high.